Grab-handle for railway-cars.



No. 784,518. PATENTED MAR. 7, 1905.

' s. M. GURWEN.

GRAB HANDLE FOR RAILWAY OARS.

APPLICATION FILED DEO.17, 1904.

few 951, M mW QM NITED STATES Patented March '7, 1905.

PATENT ()EEIcE.

SAMUEL M. CURVVEN. OF HAVERFOR-D, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN A. BRILL, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

GRAB-HANDLE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 784,518, dated March '7, 1905.

Original application filed September 6, 1904, Serial No. 223,544. Divided and this application filed Dec: mhcr 17, 1904. Serial No. 237,223.

To (all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL M. CURWEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Haverford, Montgomery county, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grab-Handles for Rail way-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

This is a division of an application filed by me on the 6th day of September, 1904, and serially numbered 223,544, to which reference is made.

In open street-railway cars in which the passengers enter and leave the car through the side openings between the car side posts many accidents happen through persons leaving the car and facing the wrong direction, and in order to encourage passengers to leave the car facing the direction of the movement of the car, and thus avoid accidents to a great extent, I have produced a movable grab-handle, which is secured to the side post or stanchion so as to move longitudinally of the car thereon and which is adapted to be used only from one side of the post, the handle being placed in its position by the swing of the carseat back.

Further details of my invention will appear hereinafter.

In the drawings forming a part of this application, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car side post or stanchion, together with the seat and grab-handle; and Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking downwardly.

In the drawings I have shown but one carseat and side post, it being unnecessary to illustrate the remainder of the car, as it may be of the ordinary open form.

The numeral 1 represents a side post or stanchion, to which a seat 2 is secured and against which it abuts and which is provided with a suitable back 3, carried by an arm 4, and which is adapted to swing on the pin 5 in the usual manner.

The grab-handle consists of two vertical rods 6 and 7, arranged parallel on each side of the stanchion and which are connected at each end and approximately at the centers by the arms 8, 9, and 10, each of which is provided with an oblique loop 11 intermediate of the two grab-handles. The upper and lower loops are preferably adapted to engage with studs 12 and 13, which define the movement of the handle and retain the same in proper place. One of these loops, preferably the center one, is provided with a ratchet-surface 14: on the interior of the loop, which engages with a sprocket-wheel 15, carried on the outer ends of the pin 5, which latter, it will be seen, passes through the stanchion 1 and is adapted to be revolved when the seat-back is swung. I/Vhen the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1, a person leaving the car from the rear of the seat-back would naturally grab some part of the handle 6, which is extended sufliciently to allow the space for grabbing, and thereby encourages the passenger to grab the handle, while a person leaving the car in front of such seat will not be able to conveniently grab the handle 7, as it hugs too closely to the stanchion. In this way the natural tendency is to grab the most convenient handle, and by inducing the passenger to take the one ahead he is more apt to leave the car in the proper way.

At the end of the journey when the seatbaok 3 is swung on its pin 5 the latter revolves the sprocket-wheel, which in turn engages the ratchet 14, and thus shifts the handle, so that the same is reversed in its position relative to the stanchion, when the rod 6 will hug the stanchion, while the rod 7 will extend outwardly therefrom.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. A railway-car having side posts and stanchions, side openings between the stanchions, a seat between the stanchions, a swing-back to said seat, a gear on said stanchion operated by the movement of said seat-back, a grabhandle connected with the stanchion and provided with a member having a ratchet thereon, adapted to engage with said gear, whereby the gear will move said grab-handle in its relation to said stanchion.

2. A railway-car having side posts or stanchions, side openings between stanchions, a seat between the stanchions, a swing-back for said seat, a gear connected with and operated by said seat-back, a grab-handle connected with said stanchion and comprising a plurality of vertical grab members, one of which is disposed on each side of said stanchion, and means whereby said gear will move the handles longitudinally of the direction of the car.

3. A railway-car having side posts or stanchions provided with studs, side openings between the stanchions, a seat between the stanchions, a swing-back for said seat, a gear connected with and operated by said seat, a grab-handle comprising vertical members 6 and 7 disposed on each side of the stanchion, and having arms 8 and 9 provided with oblique loops to engage with the studs on the stanchion and an arm provided with an oblique loop having a ratchet adapted to engage with the said gear, whereby the movement of SAML. M. CURW" EN.

\Vitnesses:

WM. J. FERDINAND,

H. A. HEULINGS. 

